For retailers, this shift creates both pressure and opportunity. Pressure, because competition is more visible and price transparency is higher. Opportunity, because customers are already telling you exactly where they prefer to shop.

Being where your customers already are has never mattered more. If your target demographic regularly shops on platforms like boohoo, values free delivery and trusts the checkout experience, then your products need to be present there. Shoppers have strong channel preferences, and they are increasingly loyal to the marketplaces and ecommerce sites that fit their expectations around price, delivery and convenience.

At the same time, ecommerce platforms are realising they can follow the Amazon model. By expanding their marketplace offering, they can increase product choice and category depth without the need to invest ever more aggressively in Facebook and Google advertising. For retailers, this creates another route to growth that does not rely solely on paid media.

There is another way to reach customers through these channels. By linking into marketplaces using a dropship model, retailers can tap into established demand while retaining control. You continue to manage your own stock and fulfilment, protect service levels and maintain operational ownership, while the marketplace delivers traffic, trust and conversion.

One of the most effective ways to achieve this today is by expanding into ecommerce marketplaces such as B&Q, Debenhams, The Range, OnBuy and other specialist platforms. For many retailers, the most commercially viable entry point is dropship fulfilment. This model allows retailers to retain control of stock and shipping, while marketplaces deliver incremental demand and brand visibility.

So how can retailers position themselves for sustainable growth, not just now but in line with ambitious 2027 growth plans. Below, we explore what is changing and what retailers need to do differently.

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Marketplaces have fundamentally changed how consumers search for and evaluate products. For a growing number of shoppers, marketplaces are no longer the final step in the buying journey. They are the starting point.

Customers choose marketplaces because they trust them to provide:

This trust has shifted power towards marketplaces as primary discovery engines. In many categories, marketplace listings outperform brand websites in search visibility and customer reach.

For retailers, this means marketplaces are no longer an optional add-on channel. They are where customers are already looking for solutions, inspiration and value. Without a presence on these platforms, retailers risk missing high-intent shoppers entirely.

Being active across multiple marketplaces helps retailers to:

This approach mirrors how Transalis customers have successfully used marketplace integration to unlock new demand. For example, a UK home and garden retailer expanded onto multiple UK marketplaces, including B&Q, by optimising product data and automating order flow through Transalis, creating a scalable acquisition channel that reached entirely new customers (read the full case study: https://www.transalis.com/case-studies/case-study-simplehuman).

Dropship fulfilment has become a cornerstone of marketplace growth for retailers that want to scale without operational disruption. Unlike wholesale or traditional third-party fulfilment models, dropship allows retailers to grow while retaining full control of inventory and customer experience.

The dropship model works because:

For established retailers, dropship provides a practical way to test new marketplaces, categories and geographies without long-term risk.

From a strategic perspective, dropship enables:

By 2027, simply listing products on marketplaces will not be enough. As competition intensifies and marketplaces adopt more advanced technology, success will depend on how well retailers differentiate and execute.

Retailers must move from reactive marketplace participation to intentional, data-led strategies.

Product data is the foundation of marketplace performance. As AI increasingly powers search, recommendations and category placement, retailers with inconsistent or incomplete data will struggle to compete.

High-quality product data supports:

By 2027, leading retailers will prioritise:

Customer expectations continue to rise regardless of where a purchase is made. Shoppers expect fast delivery, accurate order fulfilment and clear communication across all channels.

Retailers that succeed in 2026-27 will have operations designed specifically for marketplace scale, including:

Dropship fulfilment can deliver excellent results, but only when supported by robust operational systems. Manual processes may work at low volumes, but they quickly become a constraint as marketplace demand grows.

Customer expectations continue to rise regardless of where a purchase is made. Shoppers expect fast delivery, accurate order fulfilment and clear communication across all channels.

Retailers that succeed in 2026-27 will have operations designed specifically for marketplace scale, including:

Dropship fulfilment can deliver excellent results, but only when supported by robust operational systems. Manual processes may work at low volumes, but they quickly become a constraint as marketplace demand grows.

Over-reliance on a single marketplace introduces commercial risk. Algorithm changes, policy updates or fee increases can quickly impact performance.

Future-ready retailers treat marketplaces as a balanced portfolio rather than a single dependency. This approach includes:

This diversification helps retailers reduce risk, reach new audiences and adapt more easily to market changes.

In a marketplace environment defined by transparency and competition, intuition alone is no longer enough. Retailers must use data to guide commercial decisions.

Data-led marketplace strategies support:

By 2027, dynamic optimisation will be standard practice for high-performing marketplace retailers.

By 2027, the most successful retailers will treat marketplaces as core commercial channels, fully integrated into their wider retail ecosystem.

This future state includes:

Retailers that invest early in strong marketplace foundations will benefit from predictable, scalable customer acquisition and greater operational efficiency.

The next three years will separate retailers who simply list products from those who strategically build marketplace-led growth engines.

If your ambition is to reach new customers, scale efficiently and future-proof your business, now is the time to strengthen your marketplace strategy, starting with dropship.

At Transalis, we help retailers integrate with leading marketplaces, optimise product data, automate orders and fulfilment, and scale dropship operations without losing control.

If you are planning for 2026 and beyond, Transalis can help turn marketplace opportunity into measurable and sustainable growth book a meeting to start boosting your sales on new marketplaces.